Mono Album Review

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2 years ago

Mono by RM was released on October 23, 2018 through Bighit Entertainment, now known as HYBE Corporation. [1] Mono is more of a playlist type of album with a hip-hop genre where each track is connected with one another. RM produced and wrote most of the tracks and collaborated with artists such as Nell, eAeon and HONNE, and producers including Supreme Boi, HISS NOISE and Pdogg. It features seven tracks which are generally in Korean with one full English track. Despite not using the universal language, Mono had made history with its recent record as it reached the most #1’s on iTunes album sales chart, reaching the top of the chart for 121 countries, defeating Ed Sheeran’s Divide album as reported in Headline Plant’s music news.[2]

            Kim Namjoon, also known as his stage name “RM,” is a 26-year old Korean artist who is a member of the famous boy group BTS. He is also the leader, main rapper, producer, composer and song writer of the group. He has also recorded with Western artists such as Wale, Warren G, Krizz Kaliko, Fall Out Boy, and Lil Nas X. He was first known as “Rap Monster” as he believed he raps like a “monster” and raps “non-stop” inspired by San E’s song “Rap Genius” thinking it was rather cool. Later on, he changed this stage name to RM in November 2017, at the thought that his past stage name may be a bit much. He said in an interview in Entertainment Tonight that ‘RM’ could mean many things. He was asked once what it means to him and he answered that it could be “Real Me or something”. [3] With his work, Mono, he was able to express himself and he described that this album really depicted what kind of person he really was. HONNE, a band who he collaborated with, revealed that one of the many meanings of Mono was “monster no more”. [4]

            After listening to each track in order, one can sense the loneliness and suffering the artist may be feeling, even without searching up the translations for the lyrics. RM himself said that the title mono can mean black and white and can also mean or alone or one. He explains that this album playlist defines him. He once had a phase that he got stuck into dark wear or gothic style of clothing and at one point, he started liking to wear clothes of other colors. “This is important for me because clothes can be a very important tool in expressing oneself,” he stated in a livestream where he talked about the creation of Mono, “and when I discovered that I had changed I thought that I should reflect on myself. ” [5] The album cover is quite plain and fits its name. He further explained that rather than a complicated cover design, he chose a simple one with lots of blanks. And with these blanks, a person can come up with various expressions and thoughts just like a blank canvas, and it was somehow a way of communicating with his listeners. This paper shall further discuss three of the seven tracks of the album, presenting briefly the first two tracks to let one understand the theme of the album and focusing on the third track which was quite impactful.

The first track of the album is “tokyo”, this song started off with a simple sound of a piano as RM soothingly sing-raps into the song with his raspy voice. RM is well-known among the fans to be very clever in using his words, he plays with words and gives it a different but much more meaningful touch. The word “tokyo” when written in Korean is similar to the pronunciation to “longing from afar”. RM seems to be longing for something, asking the question “Do I miss myself?” in his lyrics as he seemed lost and trying to finding himself. Shamisen sound was added to fit the Japanese vibe that somehow incorporate with the title of the song, and included a whistling melody in the end to express the feeling of emptiness and longing. It was a slow track a expressed in English language, and despite RM not being a born English speaker, he was able to express his raw feelings with this song. It was a perfect introduction for the album, the theme and RM’s message was perfectly arranged with this song and all of his other tracks.

    The second track is “Seoul” where he collaborated with HONNE, an English band consisting of a duo, James Hatcher and Andy Clutterbuck. RM said in his livestream that this song reflects his heart for the city of Seoul the best, it’s his tribute for the city. The lyrics describes how it is possible to love and hate the city at the same time. In this track, he mentioned good and bad memories that makes the city special. It is written how he loves even the fumes and its “nastiness”. With his statement, it can be said that RM embraced the positivity of the city, and even its negativity. A review by Lily Low (2019) explains that on one hand, the city has been his home and his comfort although he also depicts in his lyrics that he has a love-hate relationship with Seoul. [6] The melody of the song had a bittersweet vibe that can be rather catchy. The drums started off with a muffled pattern and went on to a hip-hop type of breakdown that gave a touch of groove and made quite unique. There was a half-time part where the drums were pitched down that eases the mood of the listener.

            The next track is “Moonchild.”, the actual favorite of the artist. RM dedicated this song to people who would much rather find their comfort at night. The daytime was described as stressful time because it is the time when you had to face the reality, but when the night time comes, everything is quiet, dark and calm. The song described the night as a sense of freedom – a getaway from other’s eyes. The second verse hit hard, and it was unfortunate how Koreans say that the translations cannot justify the true meaning of his lyrics and how RM’s cleverness was shown through several plays on words. However, the English translations were still striking, “You say you wanna die but live it much harder. You say you wanna let go but put on another weight. Thinking of not thinking at all is still a thinking.” These lyrics are something that the majority of music listeners relate to. RM’s words show a sense of comfort, as he believes that sad music can heal one's sorrow. The hook comes in with big drums and a bit of string instruments in the background and what made it anticipating was the kick that has a lot of reverb on it. Along with the second verse were sounds of wind chimes and soft snares that later grow to get your head to bop. It was rather unique because snares usually smack into the beat. As the second hook approaches, there’s this a hint of background vocal or adlib that signals the approach of the hook to get the listener’s ears to focus and get tuned in to what’s coming near. The chords and synthesizers sounded very spacy which still show the consistency of the vibe of the album. RM harmonized and stacked his vocals with lots more strings to make the last hook seem fuller. It is a song where you feel relaxed, assured, sad at the same time, and each lyric anticipates you what comes next.

            There are still four more tracks and it is recommended that one should listen to them too, to be able to picture the complete vibe or theme of the album. RM wanted to create an album where he could show the bigger picture. According to him, listening to a well-made album or an entire playlist from beginning to end is much bigger than the catharsis one might get from listening to just one song. He compares how nowadays people consume songs like products, and said that he wants his songs to operate like an organic machine as a whole. He wants people to look at the beauty of the whole forest rather than a single tree. One can agree with this, as listening to every single track in order was quite an experience. One track after another, a person can witness the struggles he had been through, and how the lyrics tell people that they are not suffering alone. RM also mentioned recently that he has been working on his new solo album or mixtape, and is surely an album that is to be highly anticipated after following Mono for about three years.

References

[1] Bell, Crystal. (2018). BTS’ RM JUST DROPPED HIS SOLO PLAYLIST MONO AND IT’S

LIKE FREE THERAPY. MTV News.

[2] Cantor, Brian. (2021). RM’s “Mono” Breaks Record By Reaching #1 On iTunes Album Sales

Chart In 121st Country; Fellow BTS Member V Recently Broke Song Chart Record.

Headline Planet.

[3] Drysdale, Jennifer. (2017). BTS Answers Fans' Biggest Burning Questions -- And RM Reveals

            Why He Changed His Name From Rap Monster! Entertainment Tonight.

[4] Niki and Sammy’s Peachy Podcast. (2018). S4 E7: HONNE on Collaborating with BTS's RM.

BBC Radio. Retrieved from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06tvwbg

[5] Kim Namjoon. (2018). RM MONO Behind. Vlive. Retrieved from:

https://www.vlive.tv/video/96907

[6] Low, Lily. (2019). Mixtape Review: “Mono” by RM. Medium.

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Comments

This is my go-to healing slash self-care album. Namjoon has a way with his music and words that soothe my anxious heart

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2 years ago

same here! i can't express how this album helped me through a lot. his music really comforts me.

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2 years ago

It’s so hard to pick a favourite song. Definitely a no skip EP!

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2 years ago